A few years ago, I received an unwelcome email from Ohio University, my Alma Mater. Evidently, a hard drive with information about every student from way back whenever was improperly disposed of. My records, including Social Security number and other personal data, happened to have been on this hard drive.If I recall correctly, the school did take action. (A) They notified us, the potential identity theft victims, and (B) they fired two IT personnel, as if that would somehow help prevent my future identity theft should this info get into the wrong hands.
I graduated Ohio University in 1974. The incident, three decades later, is a somewhat unnerving reminder of how vulnerable we are. How many people have your personal data? How many schools have you attended, places where you have worked, banks that you have done business with, mortgage lenders, hotels that you have stayed at, etc. The list is probably long.
So today, I received a letter from an investment firm through whom I purchased stock securities in the late 1980’s and early nineties. In February of this year one of their boxes of backup tapes of data was evidently missing. The missing tapes contained… guess what? … “certain personal information, such as your name, address, Social Security number and/or shareholder account information.”
Hmmm.
So, they are offering twelve months of “free credit monitoring.” Great… like then what? In thirteen months I will still be anxious because, frankly, though I do not lose sleep over it, I remain internally unsettled by the previous potential dispersal of my personal information four years ago.
From everything I have read, identity theft is an enormous nightmare to experience. Personally, I do not want to go through it any more than I want to catch the latest staph infection that has no remedy.
It’s all part of the game of progress, and I don’t really know the alternatives. Cash and carry has limitations that put a crimp on my style. I dislike shopping, and all those goods that get delivered to my door with a handful of mouseclicks is so pleasing. But… then again… I sure don’t like the way this letter from Shareholder Services is making me feel.
How does it make you feel? Am I overreacting to imaginary boogeymen, or are these really scary realities?
I think the chances that an identity thief would benefit from financial info that old, is pretty slim.
ReplyDeleteYour name, address, and Social Security number is not that secret, anyway, for anyone who really wants to know. The government already knows, of course, and they know your phone number and all your financial info, as well. That's not a problem, though, since they're the guys in white hats, and they can be trusted. ;>)
But if you're worried about identity thieves getting into your bank or credit card accounts and stealing, read your monthly statements closely every month to be sure that any charges were authorized by you or Susie. If not, get down to the bank right away in the morning and change your account numbers.
I had to do that twice, by the way, when America Online was withdrawing money from my account without my permission. I went to the Credit Union quickly enough, that I got repaid the money AOL had already taken out, and I stopped them from taking out any more.
Then AOL sent me a nasty letter, saying I owed them money, and threatening that they were going to take me to a collections agency, if I didn't do the "right thing" and pay them the money.
I did the right thing and wrote them back and told them to "go ahead" and take me to a collection agency, if they really wanted to. I listed dates and amounts they had withdrawn from my account without my permission, and told them that I keep accurate records, and that actually they owed me about $200 for all it cost me to shut down their stealing out of my account.
They decided they didn't really want to to take me to a collection agency, and I never heard from them again.